0115 min
The conversation
Text or call. What are you buying, where, and will you live in it? Credit range, cash available, entity or personal name. Tiaira tells you which program fits and what the ratio needs to be.
The process
Eight phases. Most of them are waiting on an appraiser.
A DSCR file is lighter than a conventional loan because the income file doesn’t exist. Here’s what happens instead, how long each piece takes, and where investors usually trip.
02Same day – 2 days
Pre-qualification
Credit pull, review of reserves, LLC docs if applicable. For DSCR there is no income file — no tax returns, no pay stubs. You get a pre-qualification letter and a purchase range to shop with.
03As you shop
Deal analysis
Send addresses. Tiaira pulls the non-homestead taxes, gets a landlord insurance ballpark, and runs the DSCR with realistic rent. Serious deal → full pricing before you write.
04When you find it
Offer & contract
Letter attached, financing contingency sized to the program, inspection period set. If the LLC is taking title, the contract is written in the LLC’s name from the start.
05Week 1–2 under contract
Appraisal & rent schedule
The appraiser values the property and completes the market rent schedule (Form 1007 or 1025). If a lease is in place, it goes to underwriting alongside. Insurance gets bound in the right name.
06Week 2–3
Underwriting
The underwriter verifies the ratio, the reserves, the entity, title and insurance. Conditions on a DSCR file are usually about documents matching — names, dates, lease terms — not about income.
07Week 3–4
Clear to close
Final figures reviewed, closing disclosure or settlement statement issued, wire instructions verified by phone (never from an email alone). Tiaira walks you through every number.
08About an hour
Closing day
Sign at the title company — in person or with a mobile notary — fund, record, keys. Your tenant’s rent starts flowing to the entity account, and the next conversation starts whenever you’re ready.
Timelines are typical and depend on appraisal availability, title, and how quickly documents come back. Not a commitment to any closing date.
Communication
You hear from Tiaira at every milestone — not just when something’s wrong
Her reviews say the same thing over and over: she communicates. On an investor file that means a text when the appraisal is ordered, when it comes back, when the underwriter clears the file, and when the closing disclosure is ready. If a condition needs something from you, you’ll know the same day — with the exact document name, not “some paperwork.”
- Appraisal ordered → appraisal received (with the rent schedule number)
- Submitted to underwriting → conditional approval → conditions cleared
- Clear to close → closing disclosure → wire verified by phone
- Funded and recorded → keys
appraisal came back? what rent did they put on the 1007?
$2,850 — $50 over what we modeled. Ratio’s at 1.19. Submitting to underwriting now; I’ll text you the second it’s back.
Where investors trip
Four things that delay a DSCR closing
Names that don’t match
Contract in your name, LLC on the loan, insurance on a third version. Decide who’s buying before you write the offer, and make the contract, lease, insurance and title all say the same thing.
Unseasoned reserves
Money that showed up last week needs a paper trail. Keep the down payment and reserves in one account for two months before applying, and avoid moving funds around during the process.
Rehab not finished before the appraisal
On a cash-out refinance, a half-done kitchen appraises like a half-done kitchen. Finish the work, then order the appraisal — not the other way around.
Wire fraud
Never wire closing funds based on emailed instructions alone. Call the title company at a number you looked up independently and verify. Tiaira will remind you — it is the single most expensive mistake in real estate.
Want the process to start?
It starts with a text. Address optional — if you’re still shopping, Tiaira will get you pre-qualified so you’re ready when the right one shows up.